UK Cabinet in hunt for finance guru

The Government is creating a new organisation with a £150,000-a-year chief executive to look after its shareholdings and advise on how it should deal with them. An advertisement for the chief executive is notably vague, however, on just what the duties would be.

According to the ad, the new person would have to check what “shareholding capability and processes” departments have and then “strengthen their capability as a shareholder”. The chief executive will also set “standards and procedures for departments’ shareholder performance”.

The new unit will be based in the Cabinet Office, which explains why the Shareholder Executive will look at shareholder duties such as “appointing the management, checking its performance and holding it to account”.

But it will go way beyond that, since Cabinet Office minister Lord Macdonald said the organisation will also help departments “distinguish and set out their long-term commercial and policy objectives for businesses”.

The chief executive’s pay is up to £150,000 a year “with more for an exceptional candidate and a bonus depending on performance”. Initially the appointment is for three years.

The appointee is expected to recruit 10 to 15 people, who will look after three state-owned corporations: Royal Mail, the Royal Mint, and British Nuclear Fuels, all of which have been considered for privatisation.